Federal immigration authorities could expand their enforcement action in North Carolina to a second city, as operations in other U.S. cities approved by Donald Trump’s administration have either been deprioritized or caught up in legal limbo.
Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell said Monday in statements to local media that “we have been aware that Customs and Border Protection are coming to Raleigh.”
“I ask Raleigh to remember our values and maintain peace and respect through any upcoming challenges,” Cowell added in a statement.
The Trump administration had previously made Charlotte, a city of about 950,000 people, a focus for an immigration enforcement surge it says will combat crime — despite local opposition and declining crime rates.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that border patrol officers in Charlotte over the weekend had arrested “over 130 illegal aliens who have all broken” immigration laws. The agency said the records of those arrested included gang membership, aggravated assault, shoplifting and other crimes, but it did not say how many cases had resulted in convictions, how many people had been facing charges or any other details.
Guard troops have no arrest powers
The movements in North Carolina come after the Trump administration launched immigration crackdowns in other cities this year, calling up National Guard troops and, in the case of Los Angeles, some U.S. Marines.
National Guard deployments have been one of the most controversial initiatives of Trump’s second term, demonstrating an expanded willingness to use the military to accomplish domestic goals. It has also exacerbated relations between states, with some led by Republican governors willingly sending their own Guard troops to cities in other states led by Democratic officials.
While the Trump administration has cited soaring crime rates, violent crime has trended downward the past two years as the COVID-19 pandemic has receded.
Members of the National Guard by law have no arrest powers under the current scenario, but have been tasked with protecting federal facilities, particularly those run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as the second Trump administration undertakes an expansive deportation agenda.
But that rationale has been questioned.
The non-partisan think-tank Migration Policy Institute published statistics indicating that 35 per cent of ICE detainees had a criminal conviction in September 2025, compared to 65 per cent at around the same time last year in the previous Democratic administration. The libertarian think-tank Cato Institute has reported similar findings.
“The president’s team vowed to target gang members, murderers and rapists, but we’re not just rounding up violent offenders. We’re arresting working parents, students, asylum-seekers and even U.S. citizens to create made-for-TV crackdowns,” Jason Houser, who served as ICE chief of staff between 2021 and 2023, wrote in a New York Times opinion piece last month.
N.C. governor, Charlotte mayor blast deployment
The Department of Homeland Security has said it is focusing on North Carolina because of so-called sanctuary policies, which limit co-operation between local authorities and immigration agents. While the state reliably has a Republican-led legislature, the governor and the mayors of Charlotte and Raleigh are all Democrats.
Rick Su, a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law who studies local government, immigration and federalism, said the administration likely won’t face quite the level of opposition and protest as seen in places like Chicago.
“They’re not interested in just deporting people. They’re interested in the show,” Su added, of the administration’s goals.
The crackdown set off fierce objections from area leaders.
“We’ve seen masked, heavily armed agents in paramilitary garb driving unmarked cars, targeting American citizens based on their skin colour,” Gov. Josh Stein said in a video statement late Sunday. “This is not making us safer. It’s stoking fear and dividing our community.”
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said Monday she was “deeply concerned” about videos she’s seen of the crackdown but also said she appreciates protesters’ peacefulness.
This summer, Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska was fatally stabbed on a Charlotte light-rail train, an attack captured on video. While the suspect was from the U.S., and had a documented history of mental health issues, the Trump administration has tried to politicize the killing and blame it on Democrats.
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Democratic officials resist, file legal challenges
Elsewhere, cities led by Democratic mayors targeted by Trump for military involvement — including Chicago, which filed a separate lawsuit on the issue currently before the U.S. Supreme Court — have been pushing back.
They argue the president has not satisfied the legal threshold for deploying troops and that doing so would violate state sovereignty.
Donald Trump’s plan to send the National Guard ‘to protect war-ravaged Portland’ has been met with bewilderment from many people who live there. For The National, CBC’s Ashley Fraser tries to get to the bottom of the U.S. president’s fixation on the Oregon city.
U.S. Northern Command said in a statement Sunday it was “shifting and/or rightsizing” units of troops in Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, Ore., although it said there would be a “constant, enduring, and long-term presence in each city.”
Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, applauded the return of all California National Guard troops in Oregon, saying Trump “never should have illegally deployed our troops in the first place.”
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek called on the Trump administration to also demobilize the remaining 100 troops in Portland.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has said the Trump administration doesn’t communicate its plans with state leaders and was still threatening to federalize more troops.
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Political analyst Rachel Maddow and writer/activist Rebecca Solnit are sharp observers of Trump 2.0 They spoke to Nahlah Ayed and a Canadian audience about the global impact (including his beef with Canada), and where they see effective domestic pushback to his anti-democratic actions, at the PEN Canada/Graeme Gibson Talk 2025.
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, appointed to the federal bench by the first Trump administration, this month issued a permanent injunction blocking Trump from deploying troops in Portland, saying he had failed to establish that he was legally entitled to do so. On Sunday, the administration filed an emergency motion seeking to put the ruling on hold while it appeals.
In Tennessee, a judge on Monday blocked the use of the National Guard in Memphis, though the order was put on hold to give the Trump administration time to appeal.
Trump announced in September that the National Guard would be deployed to combat crime in Memphis alongside authorities from a slew of federal agencies as part of the so-called Memphis Safe Task Force. Memphis Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, said he never requested that the Guard come to his city.
Since their arrival on Oct. 10, troops have been patrolling neighbourhoods and commercial areas of Memphis, including near the iconic Pyramid in downtown, wearing camouflage and protective vests that say “military police,” with guns in holsters.
As with elsewhere, the Guard members have no arrest power.
